KFWB

KFWB is a Los Angeles, California AM radio station operating on 980 kHz with 5,000 watts of power from a transmitter site near Lincoln Park (East Los Angeles). The station had a mostly all-news format from 1968 until September 8, 2009, after which it converted to a news-talk format. KFWB is operated by the KFWB Asset Trust. It changed to an all-sports format and became known as The Beast 980 on September 22, 2014.

KFWB is licensed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast in the HD (hybrid) format.

History

The station's history goes back to March 3, 1925, when it was launched by Sam Warner, a co-founder of Warner Bros.. The station launched the careers of such stars as Ronald Reagan and Bing Crosby. The station was the first to broadcast the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

Although some think its call letters stand for Keep Fighting Warner Brothers or (K)-Four Warner Brothers, actually the callsign was sequentially issued by the Department of Commerce, predecessor to the FCC (March 1925) at the same time as KFWA in Ogden, Utah (Feb 1925) and KFWC for San Bernardino (also Feb 1925).